Just Another Day
by Emerald Lotus
Summary: A regular trip to Mr.Smoothy turns into a catastrophe for Ben as things take an unexpected turn.


Sometimes the tiny, most insignificant detail can cause the most harm in your life. Days like these are definitely the worst, and unexpected. You could take every precautionary step possible to make sure nothing happens, let your guard down for one second, and then suddenly you're in a downward spiral trying to guess which way is up.

It started with a simple routine trip to Mr. Smoothy. We had just finished a small battle with an alien, which turned out to be lost and was actually looking for a planet in the next quadrant. So really it wasn't much of a battle, but we all wanted some smoothies anyway. Kevin sped into the parking lot like normal and skidded perfectly to a halt in an empty parking space.

"Last one to the door buys!" I shouted, quickly making an exit from the car and sprinted across the parking lot.

"Tennyson!" Kevin growled behind me, quickly slamming the driver's side door, and took off to the entrance. Suddenly a pink barrier popped up in front of me, and I smacked right into it. Gwen arrived a moment later, running past me becoming first to reach the doors.

"Aw, using powers is cheating," I said, but I was second to the door, so I guess it didn't matter after all.

"Says who?" Gwen asked. "You use yours all the time."

"Um, good point… never mind then. What's important is that Kevin's buying!" I said, laughing. Kevin glared at me, but shrugged and walked inside.

"The usual?" Kevin asked.

"Sure," I answered and found an empty booth to sit in.

"Yes, please," Gwen said, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Kevin smirked and went to order the drinks while Gwen came and sat down with me.

"So anything else we need to do today?" I asked.

"I don't know about you, but I have to finish my essay for US history, and study for a physics exam."

"Boring. I guess it's just going to be a quiet day then."

"Don't you have any homework to do?" Gwen asked, giving me a skeptical look.

"Yeah…I'll get to it eventually."

"Here ya go," Kevin said, sliding the cups onto the table.

"Thanks!" I said. I grabbed one of the cups and opened the lid, checking the contents. Blueberry and mango…awesome. I took a sip from the cup, smiling at the taste of the cool drink. It was one of the more mellow flavors that I liked, but it was still good.

"It's been pretty quiet around here lately, don't you think?" I said, trying to start a conversation. "I mean we've only had two alerts this week."

Kevin shrugged. "I'm not complaining. I've been able to add some upgrades to my car that I haven't been able to get to."

"Yeah and I've been able to get ahead on my homework for the next week," Gwen added happily.

"I guess you have a point. I was able to see Julie yesterday without interruption," I said taking another sip from my cup. This time it had a funny after taste, like there was another flavor in it that wasn't supposed to be there. I just couldn't put my finger on it. "Hm, this tastes…different. "

"Like what?" Gwen asked.

"Hey, don't look at me. I got the order right. You have a Mango Blueberry," Kevin said.

"I'm not blaming you. It just tastes funny. I don't know what—" I was suddenly cut off by a coughing fit. I couldn't stop to speak.

Ben, you okay?" Gwen asked.

I took me a minute but I was finally able to get enough air in my lungs to answer. "I think so. My throat just feels a little irritated."

"Need some water?" She asked.

"No," I said trying to clear my throat, but it still felt agitated. I started coughing again and this time I wasn't able to get any words out. I couldn't stop coughing and then the coughs turned into gasps. I was inhaling, but the satisfaction of having the air reach my lungs was not there. It felt like someone had their hands clasped around my neck, choking me, but no one was there. I didn't understand why I was reacting like this. It only happened when I had…oh no. I was having an allergic reaction; my drink must have come into contact with peanuts. That was the weird taste in my drink.

"Ben! What's the matter?" Gwen asked urgency in her voice.

"N-nuts," I managed to say between gasping for air. I could see the recognition on her face.

"Oh no, do you have your Epi-pen?" she asked, jumping out of the booth and coming over to my side.

I tried to show her that it was in my jacket pocket, but I was getting lightheaded, and my arm just fell to my side as I slouched sideways in the booth. I was hyperventilating, and I couldn't think straight anymore.

"What's going on?" Kevin asked.

"He's allergic to any kind of nut. There must have been some in his smoothie by accident," Gwen quickly answered him. "Come on, Ben," I could hear Gwen saying. She reached into my pocket and pulled out the Epi-pen. The cap came off and then the needle was plunged into my thigh. I didn't really feel the pinch of it due to the fact that I was so preoccupied with trying to keep breathing.

"Did it work?" Kevin asked. I could see that he was confused about everything.

"It should. We need to get him to the hospital though," Gwen said, and then she looked at me. She cupped my cheek gently with her hand. "Is it helping, Ben?"

I nodded slightly. It was getting a little bit easier to breathe.

"Don't worry the paramedics are on the way," She said. I could faintly hear the sounds of sirens, but I couldn't tell if they were far away, or if I was starting to lose consciousness. I could still see everything, but there was a ringing in my ears. I couldn't hear anything anymore, and my vision was becoming darker, like when a movie fades to black. I saw two men come in front of me. Gwen started talking to one of them, and the other guy came over to me with an oxygen mask. He slipped the mask over my face, and the extra oxygen was welcome. They were moving me out of the booth and onto the stretcher…I would have been embarrassed if I had been more aware of the situation, but I couldn't really move anyway. Slowly the lights faded, and the faces of the confused and gossiping crowd drifted away until only a calm darkness was left.

The next thing I noticed was the white of a hospital room, and that I was lying in a bed hooked up to various medical instruments. An oxygen mask was still over my face, and then I saw Gwen and Kevin sitting against the wall.

"Ben, you're up," Gwen smiled happily. "Are you feeling better?"

"Mostly," I whispered. My throat was sore, and it made it hard to talk. "What did the doctors say?"

"You need to stay overnight for observation in case there's a backlash. You were going into anaphylactic shock, but the Epi-pen stopped it before it could get serious."

"So, you're allergic to peanuts. Anything else we should be aware of so this doesn't happen again," Kevin asked, speaking up for the first time.

"Not really. This is it. Did you call my Mom and Dad?"

"Yeah, they'll be here in a while. You're Mom is freaked out, and she's pretty upset with ."

"Great, now I'm going to be confined to a strictly organic diet for like a month now."

Kevin cocked an eyebrow at my complaint. "Why?"

"Well if you've noticed my parents are sort of odd. They don't buy anything that's been processed or factory sealed because it's less likely to be cross-contaminated with peanuts. They do it for me I guess, but I wish they weren't so concerned. Accidents happen. "

"Yeah…accidents," Kevin mumbled.

"Dude, you look like you just lost out on a big score," I said, looking at Kevin. He didn't look up.

"Well, uh…man, I'm…um sorry. I was getting impatient with the guy making the smoothies. I guess I scared him, and he didn't clean out the blender properly to make yours. There was some peanut butter in it. I swear I didn't know it would almost kill you," Kevin finished. He looked like he didn't know what else to say.

"It's not your fault. I've never mentioned it before."

"Still I'm sorry, Ben. You know I didn't mean to hurt you…like this anyway."

"It's fine… it's just another day in the life of Ben Tennyson. To make it up to me you can buy me chili fries whenever I want for the next month," I teased. Whenever it came down to money Kevin always gets a little frazzled.

"I'm not agreeing to anything," Kevin said.

"Alright, alright," Gwen interjected. "Enough of that. Ben you should rest some more. If you need anything we'll be down the hall."

"Okay, thanks," I was a little tired. I guess I should know better by now. I need to expect the unexpected because you never know what's going to happen…especially in my life. I don't blame Kevin for what happened tonight, but I'm glad that they still had my back. They stayed by my side, and I couldn't ask for anything better.

* * *

><p><strong>I don't know what this was. Just a random oneshot that I've been thinking about for a while. I was watching "The Big Story" recently and Ben mentions that he was allergic to peanuts, so this was created. I hope that this does not offend anyone...I'm not trying to joke about allergies. They can be very serious things. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little story. Reviews are appreciated!<br>**


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